TOMKO UP, L.A. DOWN DODGERS STARTER STRUGGLES AGAIN IN LOSS TO METS NEW YORK 4, DODGERS 1.

Byline: VINCENT BONSIGNORE Staff Writer

Grady Little was musing about Brett Tomko's difficulties his past few outings before the Dodgers played the New York Mets on Monday.

"Too many pitches up in the strike zone," Little said. "Hittable pitches. For him to be effective he's got to keep the ball down."

Tomko's recent struggles with balls up in the hitter's zone made for a bad matchup against the National League East-leading Mets, who came in third in the league in home runs and wasted little time making Tomko pay for his mistakes.

The Mets knocked Tomko around with two home runs in the first inning, then tacked on one more run in the sixth in a 4-1 victory in front of 34,420 at Dodger Stadium.

New York chased Tomko in the sixth inning, piling up three straight singles to add another run and a 4-0 lead. His night ended after 92 pitches, nine hits and four runs.

Worse, he couldn't get through the fifth inning for the third straight game. In his past two games before Monday, Tomko had given up six runs over 4 2/3 innings against Washington and five in three innings against Atlanta.

He hasn't won since May 15 at Colorado, and has now lost three straight.

"His control's been good, he's not walking guys," Little said. "But the (lack of) command of his pitches in the strike zone has been a big factor."

Tomko's struggles were glaring on a night the Dodgers offense couldn't get going against Mets rookie pitcher Alay Soler, a relative unknown after joining the Mets from Triple-A less than two weeks ago.

Soler defected from Cuba two years ago, but his arrival in New York was delayed by visa problems. He finally joined the Mets in spring training this year, then started the season in Double-A Binghamton. He was promoted to New York after Jose Lima and Jeremi Gonzalez failed in bids to claim the fifth starter's role.

The only Dodger with some insight on Soler is reliever Danys Baez, a friend of Soler's from Cuba who defected to the United States in 1999.

"He was one of the best pitchers in Cuba," Baez said. "He's got a lot of talent."

Little else is known about Soler, who is 0-1 after just two starts, and he seemed to use the lack of intelligence to his advantage against the Dodgers.

Soler cruised through the first seven innings, mixing his fastball with an effective changeup to continually keep the Dodgers off-balance. Soler's only mistake was the long home run he gave up to Willy Aybar in the sixth inning to make it 4-1. He ended up giving up six hits over seven innings while striking out seven.

Jose Reyes started the game with a home run to right field. Carlos Beltran got on with a one-out single, then Tomko grooved a belt-high pitch to Carlos Delgado for a deep home run to right field.

Tomko settled down over the next three innings, then ran into trouble again in the sixth when Cliff Floyd and Jose Valentin opened the inning with back-to-back singles, followed by an RBI single from rookie Lastings Milledge to make it 4-0.

The Dodgers threatened in the eighth with back-to-back singles by Kenny Lofton and J.D. Drew off Mets reliever Pedro Feliciano, but Feliciano got Aybar to ground into a fielder's choice out at second base, then Chad Bradford came in to get pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz to ground out to end the inning.

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CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1) J.D. Drew of the Dodgers watches as he fouls out in the first against New York Mets starter Alay Soler.

(2) The Mets' Carlos Beltran gives Jose Reyes a high-five after Reyes hit a homer in the first inning.

Harry How/Getty Images

(3 -- color) Dodgers pitcher Brett Tomko, right, hands the ball to manager Grady Little after being taken out Monday.

Francis Specker/Associated Press

(4) LOWE 

Box:

DODGERS VS. NEW YORK

- Vincent Bonsignore